Attachment
Attachment
of Research Results
Sanida Omerovic, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
mail: [email protected]
Saso Tomazic, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
mail: [email protected]
Milan Milutinovic, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, USA
mail: [email protected]
Veljko Milutinovic, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia
mail: [email protected]
effective method for the organization of research results into written and oral forms.
candidate is often obscured by poor presentation, leading to the paper being ignored by
the research community and journal reviewers. On the basis of their academic
background, the authors of this paper decided to form a set of clear guidelines for
writing research papers and giving oral presentations aimed at helping PhD students.
been conducted. The methodology described in this paper was initially intended for use
conclusion, if the methodology reported in this paper is followed strictly, it is much less
likely that a good piece of work would be rejected for publication, and/or remain
The aim of the methodology described in this paper is to help PhD students to produce
good papers and effective oral presentations. The underlying assumption is that good
high-quality research results are often times not the only prerequisite for meeting the
requirements for a PhD. Normally the candidate has also to publish a paper in a
recognized leading international journal (e.g., SCI journal (Scientific Thompson 2009)).
At the same time, no formal education is offered by universities on how to write papers
The major goal of the methodology described here is to help candidates to produce
high quality research results become accessible to a world wide audience (our work
relates to problem-solving papers). Oral presentations are also given due attention,
since each thesis has to be presented orally at conferences, oral defenses, etc.
Therefore, this paper is divided into two parts: the first stressing the writing of a
The proposed structure for the delivery of research results focuses on the
following issues:
b) selection of a title
d) use of references
g) oral presentation.
This paper combines the key elements from (Milutinovic 1996) and (Milutinovic
1997), expanded with the most recent experiences of the authors. Our work presented
here is influenced significantly by the work of others (Cohen et al. 1982)(Falkovych et al.
main ideas of this work were built on a set of a highly quoted papers related to changes
(Doumont 2005)(Alley et al. 2005)(Farkas 2006). We also find work treating creativity
2008) to be relevant. All references listed are of high value, and our only criticism is
related to the fact that: (a) none are tailored to the specific problem of generating papers
for leading international journals and (b) none are related to a specific course teaching
the subject methodically. However, some efforts are visible in that direction (Wong
The rationale for the proposed methodology is that poorly presented research
results may be overlooked or rejected, as key findings may not be quickly and properly
understood. A standard structure for presenting research permits the reviewers and the
audience to comprehend the key points quickly and with minimal effort.
Before writing a paper, PhD candidate with his/her advisor should decide which
journal will be targeted for submitting research results. The PhD advisor should point
out the most relevant publications. Also, the candidate can search through the SCI
expanded database (Scientific Thompson 2009) for an appropriate journal. The choice
methods section of the paper, the acceptable length of the entire manuscript, the scope
of the journal, and the targeted audience. All these issues are usually defined on a
Once the target journal is selected, preparations for writing the paper can
begin. However, the processes of “writing” and “working” is often iterative, with these
two processes supporting, challenging, and reinforcing each other. One can write a
draft, revise it, and after the submission and review processes, one can again return to
SELECTION OF A TITLE
A title is often the first thing a reader will see when considering a technical work. It is a
The main goal of a good title is an accurate and efficient communication of the
essence of the paper. It should accurately describe the research done and get the
reader interested in the subject. The title should enable an expert reader to understand
the basic idea of the work, even without reading the paper or seeing the presentation. It
should also provoke the reader to think about the deeper issues involved in the topic of
the presentation.
Wireless and Satellite Networks: Scheduling, Routing, and Power Allocation”. This title
clearly states the subject of the paper and gets the reader thinking about some of the
issues involved.
simple, direct, and precise. Whenever possible, it should include the following
components:
b) a brief explanation of the existing solutions and their weaknesses, in relation to the
problem statement;
c) the essence of the suggested solution, and why it is expected to be better under the
same circumstances;
d) the type of analysis performed to demonstrate that the suggested solution is better
e) the major numerical highlights of the analysis and research results (for engineers,
The most critical element of an abstract, from the reader point of view, is the
main conclusion of the work. Many abstracts – by professionals and by students – are
poorly written (e.g. descriptive rather than informative) and if the conclusions of the work
are omitted, then the abstract fails in its major purpose: to be a miniaturized version of
the paper.
USE OF REFERENCES
The list of references should be completed before the actual writing of the paper begins.
concerns with the reviewers, because the message you are giving them is that either
you are unaware of anyone else working in the area, or you don't feel anyone else has
done any work of significance. Second, authors should not just include a large number
of related papers that really do not support their paper. Including the additional
'references' just makes it look like you are trying to impress the reviewer with your
knowledge." Basically, the unrelated papers should not be included, because authors
should not waste a reader’s time in searching for unrelated or irrelevant papers. The
what has been done previously, to say only what is essential to bring the reader and
reviewer to an understanding of the essentials of the new work in the current paper, and
For the syntax of the references, follow the example of the most prestigious
journal in the field of the research being discussed, unless otherwise required explicitly.
When pointing to a reference in the body of the paper itself, the approach using the full
name of the first author and the year of publication is easiest for the reader, since it
quickly conveys the research group from which the paper comes. These full-name
technical journals.
THE STRUCTURE OF TABLES AND FIGURES
All figures and figure details should be completed before the writing of the paper starts.
The figures should contain as little text as possible; instead, they should include only
commonly used mnemonics or acronyms that are independent of the language in which
the paper is written. This approach is helpful when figures need to be transported back
For all figures and tables, captions should contain all information necessary to
understand and interpret them. Whenever possible, reading the details of the figures
should substitute for a casual hearing or rough reading of the paper or presentation
itself. To that end, figure captions should contain five important elements:
fourth quarter penetration was higher due to the introduction of new services);
(of the paper) into a figure caption, but to give the reader an opportunity to get the
bird’s eye view of the paper, without having to read the entire paper.
figures are often moved from written papers to presentation slides and back, and that
this should be achievable with minimal effort (appropriate modifications are always
needed when moving figures between papers and slides). See Appendix 2 for a
Whenever possible, an author should first develop the skeleton of the paper, to include
a) an introduction, to include the basic facts needed to attune the reader to the
b) a problem statement, to convey the importance and exact definition of the problem
c) existing solutions and criticism of them, to show the relevant major solutions and
indicate their inadequacies (from the point of view of the author's research), all with
(conditions), and the elements that simplify the analysis without any negative impact
e) the proposed solution and its advantages, to give the essence of the proposed
Note that modeling and analysis is helpful to both reader and researcher in aiding
understanding of the concept, but will usually not provide final answers related to
g) simulations, to show performance (usually the major and the longest part of the
paper);
availability, and other properties (in some research, this may be the major and the
view,
research avenues.
One should keep in mind that some readers will read only the abstract and the
conclusion;
The proposed structure should be used as a guideline for writing papers, rather
than a rigid structure to be followed literally. Suggested sections should be inserted only
when applicable.
selecting the paper title. After the skeleton on the level of first-level headings is defined,
the author should develop the skeleton at the paragraph level; this means defining all
subheadings on lower levels and the contents of all paragraphs under each lowest-level
heading.
Specifying the first (and therefore the major) sentence of each paragraph leads
to the strategy of a senior person (e.g., the advisor) developing the skeleton, while a
junior person (e.g., the PhD student) does the actual writing of the paper. The
proceeding sentences of the paragraph are used to explain and/or justify the statement
conveyed by the first sentence. Consequently, after the paper is written, advisor
comments are restricted to the paragraph level and are thus easier to locate and
correct.
In order to emphasize the paper's main idea, details that are unnecessary for
understanding the essence of the idea should be omitted from the main body of the
paper. If some details are required for implementation purposes (for example, if the
reader is expected to be able to repeat the experiments), they should be moved into
Remember, this paper promotes the model in which one first does the work, and then
writes it up. Note that, after one has seen what one had written, one may decide to do
some extra work, followed by extra writing, so the process becomes iterative.
ORAL PRESENTATION
When making slides for an oral presentation, there are several points worth
keeping in mind:
a) The title slide should include the presentation title, the name(s) of author(s),
b) Presentations should begin with an introductory slide to give the audience the basic
abstract. The introductory slide should feature a brief outline of the detail of the talk
itself.
d) Remember that research problems are also logic problems and have to be
e) Presentation should follow the presentation structure outlined earlier in this paper.
f) Semantic-line splitting aids understanding – and is best done manually, rather than
h) The presentation should conclude with another "short and effective" slide.
The content of presentation slides above are taken from lecture notes of the
and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Details of the course are outlined in Appendix
easier for the audience to remember the key ideas of a slide. In any instance where
bulleted text in a slide must be spread over more than one line, each line should present
a different thought. In situations where a line seems impossible to split semantically, re-
stating the line using alternative wording will often result in a text that is much easier to
effectiveness of splitting lines in this way. He taught the same subject to two different
groups of students, using two sets of slides, one with semantic line-splitting and one
without. A test was given to both groups after the subject was completed. After
performing this experiment several times, he noted that test results were significantly
higher for the students who were exposed to slides that featured the semantically split
CONCLUSION
Following the guidelines set out in this paper (for organizing research papers and oral
research content and the research results will be more effectively communicated to the
those who have to present their thoughts, in either written or oral forms. Finally, this
paper opens a number of new research avenues, mostly those leading to statistical
analysis which can shed more numerical light on the issues and advice presented here.
This course was held for postgraduate students at University of Belgrade, Serbia and
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The rational for the course was that postgraduate
engineers are very well skilled when it comes to obtaining research results (by doing
formal analysis, simulations, and implementations), but that they are lacking
This course’s outline includes the following: (a) weekly schedule, (b) reading
three weeks of lectures on methodology issues; at the end of this course section,
each student has to summarize his or her PhD thesis work into the ten points from
three weeks related to the analysis of the seminal work of others, projected onto the
same ten points as indicated in section THE STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER, and
six weeks related to the analysis of papers and presentations generated by students
student is expected to locate and present one outstanding paper from his or her thesis
research, identifying the ten points indicated in section THE STRUCTURE OF THE
PAPER.
The creation of the final deliverable is a process which progresses during the
last six weeks of the course, with students (as well as the professor) reading sections of
ten points of each students' PhD thesis, (b) evaluating the students' presentations
(based on the same ten points) of the seminal research of others, and (c) evaluating the
students' presentations (based on the same ten points) of their own work.
Some of the postgraduate students who have attended the course at the
(Radivojevic et al. 2004)(Milutinovic et al. 2003). Of course, attending the course itself is
not enough to publish a paper. The most important issue is that the idea of the PhD
candidate is proven to be original, and that it gives better results than existing solutions.
examples from practice (Rudan et al. 2005), to enhance their creativity and to
it sometimes being a prerequisite for obtaining a PhD degree) is that research done
opportunities may arise (student exchange, invited lectures, joint EU projects, industry
applications, etc).
Spain, University of Siena, Italy; to give invited lectures at the Fraunhofer Institute,
Sweden; and to join industry projects like Dow Jones, USA, StorageTech, USA, and EU
A group of 108 students (divided into two groups, 56 and 52) was exposed to two
different versions of the same paper (the test was performed in the morning hours). In
one case, the paper included only one-line figure captions (title only). In the other case,
the same paper included carefully written figure captions based on the methodology
proposed in this work. Students were given one hour to read the paper and were then
given a test with ten questions. On average, those exposed to the full five-element
captions scored 83%, and the others scored 71% (the lower bound was 43% versus
In a following student group, the same test was performed in evening hours,
when students are relatively tired. In our context, the term "evening" meant "after many
hours of attending classes" (when concentration goes down) and not "at the time of the
day when students have difficulties accepting new facts”. In the latter case, some of the
students, the so called "owl types," have, in fact, better concentration. The scores were
79% and 64% respectively (the lower bound was 39% versus 29%, and the upper
bound was 98% versus 91%). This is also an indication that the proposed approach
In 24 different cases of oral thesis defense (MSc or PhD), when the 10-element
structure was reinforced, students were able fairly crispy and precisely to answer the
following questions:
b) what is the best solution in the open literature and what are its drawback from the
c) what is the essence of the proposed approach, and why is it supposed to be better?
In the alternative case of 41 different oral defenses (by other major professors,
who did not reinforce, for whatever reason, the above-mentioned 10-element structure,
the answers to the questions above were relatively ambiguous and fuzzy. Since issues
like "crisp" and "fuzzy" cannot be treated numerically, when a question was asked in
these cases, it was underlined that an answer should be given in one sentence, and the
number of sentences in the answer was used as an indication of how "crisp" or "fuzzy" it
was.
When the structure proposed in this paper was reinforced (24 cases), the
essence was answered in one sentence 88% of the time (88% of 72 questions). In the
alternative group (41 cases) the essence was answered in one sentence only 32% of
The results presented above demonstrate that the existence of the structure
taken conditionally, bearing in mind the size of the pattern and the nature of the
circumstances.
A group of 102 students was exposed (during the morning hours of the same day) to
teaching of the same subject matter, in 2 different classrooms (52 in one classroom, 50
in another classroom). In the first case, the subject matter was presented using slides
accident). In the second case, slides were based on semantic line-splitting. For both
groups, a short test with exactly ten questions was given to the students, after each one
of ten lectures during the semester. In the case of those exposed to semantically split
lines, the test hit score, on average, was 72%. In the alternative case, it was 61%.
The next trial tested teaching in the evening hours, when the students are
relatively tired, and less able to concentrate. In this case, the advantage of semantically
split lines was much higher, with an average score of 69% versus 53% in favor of
semantic splitting. This may be treated as evidence that semantic line-splitting is more
effective, when students are less able to concentrate (through tiredness, etc).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work on this paper was supported through the Bilateral Slovenia-Serbia Scientific
Interaction project, sponsored by the ministries of science of Slovenia and Serbia (SEE-
FP7 (205494). Most of the guidelines were produced through work on PhD thesis
“Interpretation of an e-speranto in Slovenian, Serbian and Russian language” of the first
author. The authors would like to thank Peter Marlin (Oxford University, UK), Sarah
Canada), and Tom Lincoln (University of Southern California, USA) for their comments
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